Wait....somethings happening

Mega Post: Hello, Baby Felicity & I need design help!!

OK so it's been really stressing me out watching people "unfollow" our blog. There is nothing worse to our novice blogger egos then people deciding we are not worth following anymore! And by "our" I mean "mine" because I'm sure Lulu is not breaking out into a cold sweat at the thought. She's always been better under pressure. Me on the other hand...this is bringing me sleepless nights! The problem is I have a lot to say, and not much to say. Ya smell me? 

So much is going on, but nothing like earth shattering. I feel like if I always talk about Fliss this will become a babe blog and that's not really my thangggg. And if I talk about design stuff, it just makes me feel like a wolf in sheep's clothing [sidebar: that's an amazing little saying...I suggest you say it as much as possible] because I am so not legit in the design department and I can name 9384938904 other bloggers that could take me out back and show me what REAL interior design is all about. Le sigh. I do have a few things I need help on so this post is mostly about decorating. And of course a few pics of Felicity. Or as I like to call her, Bobo Baggins.

We have been seriously dragging our feet about making our dining room look good. I have no idea why since you have to walk by it to get to the kitchen. Oh AND you can see it from the living room. I'd like to think it's a little trick we play on our guests like, "Behold our busted dining room! Please over compliment every other part of our house because you feel sorry for us!"  I am going to get real talk with you right now and show you a picture of my dining room as it stands this VERY second. 

The seventh lair of hell? Perhaps.

I believe I see your dreams weeping in the corner...

Ummm my dining room literally looks like the place where dreams go to die. It is a dark and dreary hole that smells faintly of cat pee (thanks to the giant self cleaning cat box in there that frequently scares people when it decides to do a half ass cleaning job.) Even though it looks so bad in there now...I do have hope. I just ordered a new dining table, and those chairs are my latest Craig's List find. Half price West Elm dining chairs in awesome condition. Holler. And I also ordered a new chandelier. 

CB2's Bolt Dining Table

Overstock.com

Just to let you know, Overstock.com has some SERIOUS deals on light fixtures. I highly suggest you visit their website if you need some fun, funky lighting. So things SHOULD look better in there once I get these new pieces involved. I need to ditch that rug and get a cool side board. But this is my dilemma (and I am hoping my design friends can provide suggestions)...I don't know what colors to work with! It's hard to paint because the wall never really ENDS given its balcony style you know? I also need some fun plush king and queen dining chairs for the end of the table. Help me! I love bright colors. My living room is all aqua and it's kinda been played out.

I must say I do love the dining room pictured below. I love the unexpected colors and the drama from the curtains. I can't really do curtains in mine, but hot damn this looks good.

I may as well just keep the ball rolling on all the other things I need help with: My little gallery of art/ pics. I live in a 4 story townhouse which makes for a lot of stairwells. Lots of naked wall space. Here is a picture of the staircase going up to the bedrooms...

A barren wasteland. 

Here is what I have gathered for my little gallery:

Yeah I pretty much have no idea what I'm doing with this wall. All I know is I like the helter skelter look...different color frames, some art, some pics...but I don't know. It's missing something. Thoughts?

OK well here is something I AM sort of happy/proud about. I got these little guys on sale at Kohl's:

So cute. I love their noses!

And while I liked them just fine the way they were, I decided they need a punch of color. I really love random colors in a space I've decided.

After

OK so they are SO pink. You could probs see them from space. But you know what? I kinda dig them. I sent Joel on the mission to get the spray paint. All I said is I wanted something "bright and fun" and he was VERYYY proud of himself when he returned with pink spray paint. But not just pink. HOT NEON PINK. But he was super cute and I didn't have the heart to be like, "Cool. So I guess these pups will be needing a ride to the local rave tonight...?" In the end they turned out bright but fun!

Hmmmm what else? OH well I've been channeling my inner puffy paint sweatshirt grandma lately and watching a lot of the Home Shopping Network. HSN. Ummm that channel/website is CRACK. A Fiskars Craft Drill with 4 bits???? YES I NEED THAT. THANK YOU FOR ASKING. Finally. I mean they sell stuff so well. I want EVERYTHING. Hunter's SOL02 Personal Space Air Cleaner Filter??? Well I haveee found I've had trouble breathing my personal space air latelyyyyy. I'll take two!

Meet the Colin Cowie 4-1 Multipurpose Firepit:

Isn't she beautiful? 

Not only is she a fire pit, (perfect size for our backyard. I'd show you a pic of said yard but I fear your eyeballs would burn right out their sockets. Tres bad.) she is also a coffee table, ice bucket, and grill. Just click the link to see. The greatest invention of all time? Discuss.  We got her in Gun Metal, and I love her.  At the time of purchase Joel wasn't home and the Riesling was going down REALLL nice, and I was freaking out that she would be sell out. So I started blowing up Joel's phone with pics. He was having a guys night and I'm sure the last thing he wanted was texts and pics being like, "THIS CRAZY SOUTH AFRICAN NAMED COLIN COWIE IS MAKING ME ORDER A FIRE PIT. NO TIME FOR QUESTIONS! HE IS SAYING IF WE DON'T GET IT WE ARE LOSERS. DO YOU WANT TO BE A LOSER JOEL?? I, FOR ONE, DO NOT. WE ARE A FAMILY OF WINNERS!"

And have you SEEN Colin Cowie??

Creepy yet dreamy? Drink in that chest, ladies.

He has this super creepy South African accent and everything he says sounds sexual. How he made a fire pit sound sexual is beyond me. He throws in words like "darling" and "magnificent" and "luxurious" and "affordable" even if the items are blatantly not any of these things. Whatever. The point is I got me one of those there fire pits and I am damn excited to use it.

A quick shout out to Danika over at Gorgeous Shiny Things She had a giveaway last week and I won! The prize showed up on my doorstep yesterday and I RIPPED it out of the packageeeeee

She PAINTED this zebra rug. Talent, my friends. I need the perfect place for it. It deserves to be showcased!! Go to her blog, she has great decor ideas!

LASTLY! This will be the last post we do on www.nixonsleeves.blogspot.com Our friend Nicole at Our Big Day for 10K is a super talented web designer and has been working on a new website for us. Lulu and I are so excited!! As soon as we finalize the new site we will let you know. I have a feeling it will be very soon because Lulu is SUPER pumped to start blogging again. She's got some things to say, people!!

Now for some pics!

Whose the fairest of them all?

Off the charts in height, 95% in weight!!!

Catholic Charities Ball. Those are my cute parents! And Joel's  younger brother in the back round!

Much love,

Charlie

Babies and Hearts! Happy Valentine's Day!!

Oh my gosh you guys...having a baby is superrrrr time consuming! I know I'm probably stating the obvious, but I never really knew that until lil' Felicity came along.

I've been wanting to post for so long, but in the downtime moments I have I'm either trying to make our house look legit, or the sweet sweet voices of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills have sucked me in, and I'm zoning out in front of reality TV. (Super healthy, I know.) However, I have gotten my act together enough to keep notes on a couple of funny/weird things that have happened.  But first an update on Felicity...

DUDE. She is THE BEST. I am seriously obsessed with her. She will be 3 months old tomorrow. It sort of makes me feel physically ILL how much I am in love with her. I want to eat her face for breakfast. (Too far??) All she does is laugh and smile and put her fist in her mouth. It's great. Likes: pink, ruffles, Homegoods, pooping at really inopportune times, silly voices, having the song "dynamite" sang to her (I attribute this to the fact I sang this one too many times while pregnant). Dislikes: Lady Gaga arriving to the Grammys in a giant egg, the lesbian comb over we give her after baths, hiccups. We have the eerily similar same likes and dislikes. Weird.

Lesbian with a comb over. 

Joel and I are starting to get into a rhythm with the baby now. We both have our specific jobs, and really put the "TEAM" in TEAMWORK. Read: high-fives, chest bumps, motivational speeches; "Go get that nasty diaper, babe!! You own the diaper, the diaper does not own you!! You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take!!!" You know, things of that nature. I usually do dirty diapers, while Joel is the one to make the bottle and prepare Felicity for feeding time. But the other day we were rushing to get ready for church and I needed to put make up on so I asked Joel to change Felicity's poopy diaper. And this was his legit reaction, "But I JUST put my shirt on!" Ummm...I'm not sure what tumultuous activities take place when you change diapers Joel, but when I get in there it's a wham-bam-athank-you-ma'am process. He really feels strongly that changing a diaper requires a full strip down of clothing because "you just never know". He is either super dramatic, or SUPER SMART because he really puts on a show before a dirty diaper which is why I end up changing 90% of them. Joel= sly dog.

Felicity is an amazing tool for passive aggressiveness between us too. (That is such a sad sentence to write.) We have gotten into the habit of saying how we REALLY feel under the veil of baby voices. It goes something like this:

Me: Hi Fliss! Hi baby!! You're a happy baby aren't you!? Aren't you!!
Felicity: Coo Coo, Caaa Caaa!
Me: Felicity you are so cute!! You tell Daddy that if he doesn't hang the curtains tonight he is going to be moving to Beat Down City, population: 1!! Oh yes he is!! Yes he issss little one!!
Joel: (Staring me down)
Felicity: Coo Coo, Caaa!

Woopsies! Now Joel has caught on and he does it too:

Joel: Hi baby! Hiii my little love muffin!!
Felicity: Goo Goo Gagaaaa!
Joel: Oh Felicity I love you so much! I love you a lot!! Oh little one, wasn't Mommy acting crazy last night?! She was acting soooo crazy with her Riesling so I couldn't tell her I didn't like the chicken she made! So crazyyy, little girl!!
Me: (Weeping silently)
Felicity: Coo Gaaaaa!!

Pretty awesome. And by "awesome" I obvi mean deadly. Effective but deadly.

In all seriousness having the baby here now is just a J.O.Y...JOY! She is the bomb.com and I want to be more like her. She is easy going, well-natured, and takes pooping her pants in stride. All things I aspire toward. I hope I can blog more then once a month as time goes on. I keep telling myself that once she can occupy her time with toys, it will be easier to blog? Who knows. Until then I'll keep providing quick stories that will help in building my "babies first year diary."

Cue brag roll of pics:

--------------------------

On a mushy note, Joel and I are celebrating our one year anniversary today, and our little girl is the best anniversary gift we could have gotten!!! I just want to give a quick shout out to Joel...Happy Anniversary and Happy Valentine's Day to my handsome, hard-working, funny, kind, perpetually light hearted husband! I think my feelings can best be summarized in an excerpt from the ever talented Salt N Pepa's hit "Whatta Man":

I wanna take a minute or two, and give much respect due 
to the man that's made a difference in my world
And although most men are hoes he flows on the down low....


I know that ain't nobody perfect, I give props to those who deserve it
And believe me ya'll he's worth it
So here's to the future cuz we made it through the past
I finally found somebody who can make me laugh
You so crazy
I think I want to have yo baby

....pure poetry. I love you!

xo,

Charlie

P.S. United With Love has featured our wedding on their site today! Check it out :)

A Super Long Post About My Awesome Baby

Well friends, it's been 8 weeks since Felicity touched down. And WOOO what an 8 weeks it has been!! It sounds so cliche but the whole thing is totally an adventure. Joel and I have no clue what we are doing, but Felicity seems happy and that's all that counts!

In the last week or so she has started to smile!! But like a true diva, it will only happen under certain conditions: Must be well fed. Must have clean diaper. Must be mid-morning. Must have lavender scented candle burning. Must have Fiji water in her dressing room  nursery. If we meet these needs she will light up like a Christmas tree, and it gives me goosebumps every time. It's like getting a really sweet gift over and over again. Joel says it's the first ROI (return on investment) the baby gives you for your hard work.

I mean honestly...like really?! I can't even stand it.

It's fun to see Joel with the baby, and life with him now is seriously like being in a FULL TIME musical. All he does is sing things. To Felicity, to me, to the cats. It's pretty awesome. I love how happy he is. He is so cute with the babe, and just like everyone says...you really do fall in love with your husband all over again.

A quiet moment. Le sigh.

So far I think I'm a pretty OK mom. It's still really insane to me that I am someone's mom. And that I birthed her. HAHAHA. It's so weird say. Felicity has NO CLUE what a spaz I am...and for that she is lucky. I mean eventually she will get her whits about her and the jig will be up, but right now her cluelessness equals my awesomeness. She is my bestie and I just love being with her.

1 month photo

She is a really good baby as far as I can see (although I'm bias). She just hangs out and likes to be with the big kids. But sometimes she gets upset. I call her cries "requests" which helps me stomach the fact she can wail like RIGHT IN YOUR FACE! And so I tell her, "Miss Felicity, I've heard your request! Yes, you've made your request perfectly clear! No need to repeat yourself!!"

Even though she has been around for awhile now, and provides hours of entertainment (read: blogging material), I want to write about her birth story. I want to look back and be able to read about the details of the experience, you know? I'd like to have the whole thing written down while it's still pretty fresh in my mind.

So the day I went into labor, November 14th, I woke up in a serious funk. It was a Sunday, and I was crying about a lot of things. I was upset about being swollen. I was upset about being tired. I was upset that Chick-fil-a was closed. I was just UP. SET. And I felt like everyone around me was having their babies. I was all, "Why does our baby hate us?!?! WHY DOESN'T SHE WANT TO MEET US!?!?!" I went about my day feeling sorry for myself. Around 4:30 that afternoon I was working on a little home project, and was in my garage when all of the sudden...WOOOOOSH! my water broke. I was so convinced I wouldn't know when my water broke because people says it's not like the movies where it's a gush. That most of the time it's a trickle and it's hard to know. But this was from the movies. So we raced to get the go bag and feed the cats, and got to the hospital by 5:30 pm. And what did I do on the car ride? Touched up my make-up, obvi. Because I have priorities, people. And the priority is to not look busted.

Once we got to the hospital I changed into that killer gown, and settled into the room. Pretty much the hours of 8 pm to 5:15 am were my labor hours. I started getting contractions, and I could REALLY feel them by 11ish pm. I was in back labor, and I was in pain. They shot me up with The Good Stuff around 11:15 pm so I couldn't feel the contractions. After that things were pretty uneventful. We watched Sunday night football. And by "we" I mean Joel. (If you know me at all, you know that this should have been deemed UNacceptable). We also watched Sarah Palin's reality show. Which is really boring. But Sarah is super cute with her prom hair. (Sidebar: That Willow daughter of hers is a giant B. She is so rude, and definitely is in her angsty teen years.)

At 4 am my mom showed up with a ham sandwich for Joel, and Vanity Fair for me. She knows what's up. It was nice to have her there to distract me from the fact I was about to GIVE BIRTH. We listened to music, watched the news, and chatted. She said I looked like I was, "smokin' & jokin'" which to me is the highest compliment one can receive while in labor. Thanks mom!

At 5:15 am Melissa, my nurse, gave me the green light to start pushing. Now let me stop and tell you about Melissa. She was my super lovely, fun, sweet, helpful, motivating nurse. I had a crush on her. (And Joel did too.)  Melissa pretty much did everything. Yes the doc checked in a few times, but Melissa was there through it all. We totally bonded. At one point I asked her if it's ever annoying to labor with someone all night, only to have her shift change at 7 am with no baby in sight. She said yeah it was. So I looked her dead in her eyes and said, "Melissa! I'm going to get you a baby by the end of your shift if it's the last thing I do!!!" And I did! I poured my little soul out to her in a thank you note after it was all said and done. I thanked her for making the whole situation THAT much better. She was really really great. (Fair Oaks Hospital, raise up!)

And speaking of being awesome, Joel was super supportive with giving me the positive affirmations I needed. I told him I didn't need any of that massaging, or calming touch crap they teach you in labor class. I told him I needed him to frequently remind me that idiots have babies every day, and they live to tell the tale. That if those fools could do it, so could I! That was my motivation to push. (Poor guy didn't know what he was getting into when he married me.)

Pushing is way more anti-climatic than I thought it would be. It was just me, Joel and Melissa. Having Joel helping me push made me so nervous at first because I thought it may require him TO LOOK. I think it made him nervous too. We both were SOOO not prepared for him to be looking into The Eye of The Tiger. Looking into The Heart of Darkness. Looking down into the Belly of the Beast, if you will. But thank goodness he has self control and never ventured a peek. At one point Melissa asked me if I wanted the mirror and I barely let her finish the sentence before I gave her a giant HELL to the NO. Listen, I don't need to smell the milk, to know it's badddd.

Before I started pushing I had asked Melissa an over under on what time the baby would be born. She said she bet the baby would be here by 6 am. Well 6 am came and went and I said, "What the French Melissa! You said six!!" And she was like, "OK, well we will have a baby by 7 am!" Um, no thanks. I needed this baby NOW. I couldn't handle pushing for 60 more minutes. So I pushed until I could push no mo, and Felicity was born at 6:25 am. The last five minutes of pushing were a whirlwind. The doc and all the various nurses came rushing in. Oh and this random lady. It was so weird this woman was standing by the door, with this rolling table contraption in front of her just staring. But not like watching with anticipation/joy/empathy/excitement on her face. Watching like she was watching an Oxy Clean commercial. Totally bored. Totally over it. On the verge of snoozing. It was weird. I remember mid push looking at her and thinking, "Ummm so sorry I'm boring you. So sorry you find my BIRTHING A CHILD so incredibly uneventful." As soon as the baby was born, she was outtie500. Creepy. Funny BUT creepy.

Everyone started wishing miss Felicity a happy birthday, and that was adorable! My doctor did a great job and was being really sweet to her. Overall he was so amazing. But at one point he turns to me and in his really soft spoken voice says, "You may not want to aim to gain so much weight next time." ERRRRRRRR. STOP THE MUSIC. WHAT?!?! Yeah. I "aimed" to gain sixty pounds. I "aimed" to get so swollen that I felt like a circus freak. I "aimed" to haunt my local Chick-fil-a. I most certainly did not AIM to get so big. Apparently being swollen was requiring little Felicity to work extra hard to make her adventure into the world. (Plus side of water retention is instant weight drop once the baby is born. Hurrah!) I of course didn't say any of this and instead wussed out being like, "Oh woops. I'll work on that next time." LOCK IT UP, CHAR. LOCK. IT. UP.

After that my family started visiting and everything was just a blur. I was so tired, excited, nervous....THE WORKS. Felicity is the star of the show.

Get on with your bad self, girl.

Oh my goodness so now she is here. And it is wonderful!!! We are so so blessed and lucky. Felicity is the PERF addition to our family.

<3

Anyway, so that's the story morning glory. Sorry it's so long! I was really trying to remember everything. (Even the silly stuff!) I'm going to continue to blog, although I know it won't be as frequent as it used to be. I love blogging, and I don't want to give it up!! 2011 will be my year of time management, I just know it.

And with that I'll leave you with some more pics!

Who loves a good giftcard? Felicity loves a good giftcard!!

Baby's First Thanksgiving! 

"Whatcu talkin' about Willis?"

The two biggest sleepers in the house 

I told her the Pajama Jeans commercial was on behind her

Felicity and her cousin Camille on Christmas morning. Santa definitely came for these two :)

Thanks for letting me share our story with you!!

xo,

Charlie

Welcome to the world baby Felicity!

I finally had my baby! HOORAY!!!!!!!

What up girl!?! Felicity Carlin Sellier born on 11-15-10 6:26 am 9 lbs 7 oz 22 in

Why yes, I was going for the too much blush slash ill-fitting gown look.

Trying to let gravity do its thangggg

ice chips!

ELVIS IS IN THE BUILDING

Big foot?!

I traded my makeup for a BABY!!!

She is literally the cutest thing I have ever seen.  My little berry!

We found a large cardboard cutout our doc, Dr. Fisk, in the hall. My delivery Captain, indeed.

A proud and handsome papa!!

My babes.

All in all I had a easy, semi-fast delivery. We feel so blessed everything worked out, and that we have a happy healthy babe on our hands!!

So that is the reason I haven't been blogging! I've been baby-ing!!! Hopefully when things settle down in the next few weeks, I will have time to blog again. In the mean time I have been stalking the blogs when I have the time.  

Hope everyone enjoys the Thanksgiving holiday!

Much love,

Charlie (& baby Felicity!)

Nov 2nd in the National Capitol Area

Watching the election returns and flipping between the networks. SO fun:) Are you watching?